Kate Winslet on Sam Mendes divorce: I was too good at soldiering on

Kate Winslet has said that she had to remind herself to “have a good cry” after her divorce. The 35-year-old split from director Sam Mendes in 2010 after seven years of marriage.

Speaking to Harper’s Bazaar, she explained: “As a woman, especially when you have children, one gets so good at soldiering on – almost too good. I realise that I probably had very few moments of allowing that sadness to emerge.

“I kept pushing it away, not even really sharing it a huge amount with friends. Because you know what it’s like – as soon as you open that can of worms, it’s so big, you wish you’d never taken the goddamn lid off.”

Winslet continued: “I’ve had to remind myself to have those moments of being able to have a good cry, but it did take someone putting their hand on me.

“A gay male friend, actually, who put his hand on my shoulder, and said, ‘It’s OK, you can cry about this, and maybe you should’.

“We’re grown-ups at the end of the day, and however hard it’s been for me, it’s been equally hard for him and we have a child together who we both love – and raising him together, jointly and without any conflict, is absolutely key. It’s the only way to do it, and I’ve really learnt that with Mia.”

The Oscar-winning actress also revealed that she relates her troubles to a scene in HBO miniseries Mildred Pierce.

“There’s a scene where Mildred and Bert are divorced and they sit down together, because they’ve got to settle on a cause,” she added. “The first stage of my divorce with Sam came through on that day – on the very day that we were shooting. So that scene is nothing to do with acting.”